Short Summary

Far away from the wintry weather in which they have been carrying out training for their annual encounter, boat crews from Oxford and Cambridge Universities have been trying their skill on the warm waters of the River Nile.

Description

Far away from the wintry weather in which they have been carrying out training for their annual encounter, boat crews from Oxford and Cambridge Universities have been trying their skill on the warm waters of the River Nile.

The crews are there as guests of the Egyptian government who have sponsored a three-way duel between the two British universities and the crack Luxor rowing club of Egypt.

The first race was scheduled for Friday (18 December), but before getting down to the hard, competitive business all three crews tried their boats on the water. The race is to be rowed between the historic temples of Luxor and Karnak.

The second race will be rowed in Cairo, as part of the city's millennium celebrations.

At Luxor, once a favourite wintering spot for Europeans, the visiting teams were taken to see the fabled Valley of the Kings where many of the Pharaohs and nobles of ancient Egypt are buried in tombs. Lesser mortals were also buried there -- but their last resting place tended to be hollow scooped out in the hillside.

The crews also visited the tombs of Rameses and Seti as well as the temple of the warrior-queen Hatshepsut.